More than two hundred rings were counted on the shell, and therefore it is believed that this bivalve mollusk dates back to 1809.
Ocean quahogs are bivalve mollusks that are considered one of the longest-lived species on Earth. They live their extremely long lives buried in the sand at the bottom of the ocean, and are sometimes able to live so long that the ocean quahog Minu once even got into the Guinness Book of Records, because he was about 500 years old, writes IFLScience.
Blaine Parker lives in Florida (USA) and spends his free time digging up shellfish on the beach. So it was this time, when the man went to the beach of Alligator Point, but this time he came across a unique exhibit in the sand – a man found an abnormally large mollusk in the sand.
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Note that these mollusks belong to the species known to science as oceanic quahogs (Arctica islandica). These mollusks are notable for their ability to live a long life, as evidenced by the growth rings on the shell, like those of trees.
According to Parker, after such an amazing find, he began to count these annual rings on the mollusk shell and counted 214 of them on the sample, which indicates that. That the clam dates back to 1809, which means it is actually over 200 years old.
Giant clam reaches 15 centimeters
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Фото: Gulf Marine Life and Family Aquarium
Note that Abraham Lincoln was born in 1809, and therefore Blaine Parker decided to name the mollusk Aber-clam Lincoln. Curiously, most members of this species tend to measure 7-11 centimeters in length, as evidenced by records from NOAA and the Gulf Marine Specimen Laboratory. However, the specimen found on a beach in Florida turned out to be truly unique – the length of the quadruped was a whopping 15 centimeters, and its weight reached 1.1 kilograms.
According to Parker, he often goes to the beach to gather shellfish for chowder. Yes, it was this time. The man notes that initially Aber-clam Lincoln was destined to become a dinner, Parker even thought that two servings of a dish could be obtained from such a large bivalve at once. However, after a little thought, the man nevertheless decided that this 200-year-old mollusk is special, and therefore decided to save his life.
The weight of the mollusk reaches 1.1 kilograms
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Фото: Gulf Marine Life and Family Aquarium
By the way, Blaine Parker works in the Gulf Specimen marine laboratory, and therefore for some time the 200-year-old mollusk lived there. However, later the team nevertheless decided that it was time for Aber-clam Lincoln to return to their native land, and therefore the mollusk was released back into the ocean.
Earlier, Focus wrote that the reason for the onset of a mini-ice age on Earth hundreds of years ago was named.
